It’s three-quarters of a century since 617 Squadron flew off to break open major German dams in a mission to hit Nazi Germany’s war production.

Commanding officer of 617 squadron, Wing Commander John Butcher with Johnny Johnson, the last survivor of the original Dambusters (Joe Giddens/PA)

The raid in May 1943 called for pinpoint accuracy in dropping bouncing bombs from the speeding Lancaster bombers, so the devices could skip over the dams’ defences in the water and strike the dam walls.

A modern RAF Typhoon in a commemorative flypast over the Derwent dam in Derbyshire (Danny Lawson/PA)

Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led the squadron, was killed on another mission later in the war, in September 1944. He was just 26.

Barnes Wallis was the inventor of the bouncing bombs which breached the Mohne and Eder dams in Hitler’s Germany.

Dr Barnes Wallis (right), in 1967, inventor of the ‘bouncing bomb’ which was used to breach the Mohne and Eder dams in May 1943, with the former Air Chief Marshal Sir Ralph Cochrane (PA)

The name given to the Dambusters mission, in which today’s sole survivor Johnny Johnson was a bomb aimer, was Operation Chastise.

A Second World War RAF Lancaster bomber (PA)

The Lancaster bomber has often been seen flying in formation with two other RAF Second World War aircraft – the Hurricane and Spitfire fighter planes.

A Lancaster bomber, a Spitfire and a Hurricane in a Battle of Britain memorial flight (Peter Byrne/PA)

The anniversary is a time for remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Second World War.

Flight Lieutenant Nigel Painter holds a wreath as he stands among 53 pairs of flying gloves at the Bomber Command Memorial in London’s Green Park which represent the men who died in the Dambusters raids (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)